That said, let’s go back just a little over eight years, to the Advance’s front page on Dec. 2, 2002.

Mayor announces Bloomingdale Park compromise $17M deal for ballfields

Plan calls for 8 soccer, baseball and softball fields between new park and Charleston retail site

The plan was supposed to end the debate which pitted Borough President James Molinaro against the city Parks Department and environmental groups. Molinaro’s plan for Bloomingdale was scaled way back to a baseball field, a softball field and a soccer field, Community Board 3’s first city Parks outdoor athletic facilities.

In return, CB 3, which is the size of Manhattan, was to receive a second park in Charleston: baseball, softfall and Little League fields, two soccer fields, and tennis and basketball courts.

The community was told the new park, Fairview Park, would open in the summer of 2004.

The failure of the city to deliver on the Mayor’s promise to build the park is hardly news.

Neither is the reason the city’s fastest growing area is still park-poor: The Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

City Parks actually had a shovel in the ground at Fairview when work was halted because the EDC had only done an EIS (Environmental Impact Study) for the park and not, as required, for the entire site which, at that time, was also to include land for a school and for seniors housing.

The EDC had been warned.

“I told them then that they had to do the entire site,” Molinaro said this week.

Three weeks ago, six years after the South Shore was supposed to have its second park, the EDC unveiled plans for the site at a meeting with the Advance Editorial Board.

Surprise! The plans now included two additional retail sites and a library on one of the retail sites. The sale of the retail sites’ land will be used to pay for the EIS, according to the EDC.

A reconfigured park has been moved off Englewood Avenue, making it less accessible to kids in the community.

In addition, Parks wasn’t consulted as to whether the new site would allow it to deliver on the Mayor’s promise.

“The new configuration of the Charleston site means that the Parks Department must revisit its plan for Fairview Park. We look forward to working with area residents and local officials on developing a plan for the new park that works within the site and best meets community needs and expectations,” a spokesperson said yesterday.

This amateur surveyor doesn’t see “the new configuration” meeting the community’s expectations — all that the Mayor promised.

Neither apparently does the EDC which at the Advance meeting, mentioned the possibility of the school and the park having “common space.” That would likely eliminate the school recreational area. Installation of such sites had been a major plus during the Joel Klein era.

The EDC stressed the park’s size is the same 22 acres, but one narrow strip appears to be useless and there also could be environmental concerns in another section. Our elected officials need to get involved now — and so do environmental organizations.

First, push Parks to deliver a plan for the site.

If, as I suspect, Parks can’t deliver a plan which includes all that was promised, then go to the Mayor. Ask him to keep his word and send the EDC back to the drawing board.

Environmental groups should get on board, too. If the Mayor doesn’t deliver, that frees Molinaro who has never been happy with the compromise and the loss of fields at Bloomingdale Park, overused and consequently abused since it opened.

If Fairview doesn’t provide all that was promised by the Mayor, Molinaro can be expected to revive his plans for Bloomingdale, but this time, he will likely have the support of most, if not all, of our elected officials and Community Board 3.